Sunday 17 August

Misty heights on the way to the east coast

Today we are heading to Khota Baru on the east coast. There are no features on our itinerary. Breakfast was a bit disappointing - runny hard boiled eggs:-) And sweet cereal.

William showed us how rubber is tapped - traditionally

The car journey took about 4 hours. We went through high hills and lower areas of lush greenery. We stopped once to look at rubber trees and William demonstrated tapping for rubber with his knife.

Kota Bharu is a sprawling city on a river estuary, on the northeast coast. The water was very muddy. Instead of going straight to the hotel, our guide wanted to show us the Sultan's Palace or Istana Jahar, but we didn't go inside to the museum. We also looked at the market but it was closing. It was too hot for sightseeing at 1pm anyway.

We found an Indian restaurant and had rice with fish or chicken and pickles.Then we checked into the Renaissance Hotel - quite posh.

Chinese-style scallops with vegetables

We both had headaches. Richard went in search of a pharmacy. Later we both explored the hotel coffee bar, the pool and the nearby supermarket with its range of fresh fruit, veg and fish. Back at the hotel we went for a swim.

We decided to eat at the hotel and had Chinese-style fish and fried rice. No alcohol. We had a warning of an expected fire drill - worrying.